einstein

[mad_scientist]

if einstein was really a genius why did his math teachers not notice?

 

does this imply he became a genius...did he start off being of average intelligence?

 

[Endy0816]

 

In 1935, a rabbi in Princeton showed him a clipping of the Ripley's column with the headline "Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics." Einstein laughed. "I never failed in mathematics," he replied, correctly. "Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus." In primary school, he was at the top of his class and "far above the school requirements" in math. By age 12, his sister recalled, "he already had a predilection for solving complicated problems in applied arithmetic," and he decided to see if he could jump ahead by learning geometry and algebra on his own. His parents bought him the textbooks in advance so that he could master them over summer vacation. Not only did he learn the proofs in the books, he also tackled the new theories by trying to prove them on his own. He even came up on his own with a way to prove the Pythagorean theory.

 

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/albert-einsteins-matriculation-certificate-1896/

 

Not sure how he did comparatively, but his teachers likely recognized he had a talent in the area.

[mad_scientist]

 

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/albert-einsteins-matriculation-certificate-1896/

 

Not sure how he did comparatively, but his teachers likely recognized he had a talent in the area.

oh ok. why did the ripley article column say otherwise though?

Edited April 11, 2017 by mad_scientist

[Strange]

There seems to be a long-standing myth that Einstein was some sort of uneducated genius who worked alone. I don't know if anyone has looked into how this arose.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Strange

[StringJunky]

There seems to be a long-standing myth that Einstein was some sort of uneducated genius who worked alone. I don't know if anyone has looked into how this arose.

The scoring system of his examining body was the opposite of what was common, so it looked like he was a bit thick. He was, in fact, a top student in science and maths, achieving the highest grades.

Edited April 11, 2017 by StringJunky

[Eise]

There seems to be a long-standing myth that Einstein was some sort of uneducated genius who worked alone. I don't know if anyone has looked into how this arose.

 

I think it has to do with the 'hear-say' mechanism.

 

Einstein felt very bad under Prussian discipline at school in Germany. He was pretty unconventional already in his youth. In this time his parents left for Italy, but poor Albert stayed behind in a guest family. I do not remember by heart, but I think his uncomfortness led him to emigrate to Switzerland (Aargau) where he finished school with great grades. Also at the technical University in Zürich, he was pretty unconventional: he did not visit lectures, and learnt on his own, partially with notes made by companions.

 

I would say he did work pretty on his own (but not in complete isolation!). His revolutionary take on special relativity came as a complete surprise for the outer world (only one friend knew what he was working on). With general relativity he needed the help because of the math ("Hey I have a great idea, but I have some trouble with the math...."). Marcel Grossmann introduced him to the math of curved spaces, and much later he sought also support from David Hilbert. This nearly costed him his primary on general relativity, because Hilbert also started to work on it. They were ready at nearly the same time, but Hilbert gave all the credits to Einstein.

 

But Einstein definitely knew what was going in the world of physics, and was completely uptodate in all the important disciplines. Contrary to crackpots who say 'I have a great idea, but I need help for the math...' Sounds similar, but there is a world of difference.

The scoring system of his examining body was the opposite of what was common, so it looked like he was a bit thick. He was, in fact, a top student in science and maths, achieving the highest grades.

 

Might be a reason too, but it would be extreme: in Switzerland, grades go from 1 to 6, 6 being the best. In Germany, it is the opposite. But with nearly only 1's in Switzerland one would never get at a University, as Einstein in fact did.

Edited April 11, 2017 by Eise

[Strange]

By coincidence, I just came across this (while searching for something else):

http://www.nature.com/news/history-einstein-was-no-lone-genius-1.18793